a week of picnic - the bumpy wagon

I really wanted to find a picture of this, as I remember it fondly from childhood picnics. Alas, this description from wikipedia will have to do. I think it does a fairly accurate job of describing this beast from the Waverly Old Fashion Picnic. Too many rides on this made explain why I'm slightly off-kilter today.

The Bumpy Wagon
The bumpy wagon is a flat bed wagon with each of the four tires mounted off-center to the axle. The offset of the tires cause the wagon to buck as it moves. The flat bed is skirted by a metal hand rail, with a metal stairway to the rear for loading and unloading children. Within the handrail enclosure are two telephone poles mounted lengthwise supported a few feet above the trailer bed by metal pipe. The poles are wrapped in astroturf and have holding ropes every few feet. The wagon is pulled up and down the South side of the town square by a farm tractor during The Old Fashioned Picnic to the delight of all willing to pay 25c.

There were actually two bumpy wagons: The New Bumpy Wagon and The Old Bumpy Wagon. The old wagon's astroturf was a gray-ish green, while the new wagon's was a bright green. Both were used during a given Old Fashioned Picnic, although the new wagon was used more often. The Old Bumpy Wagon bucked more.

Riding the wagon consists of holding onto the provided ropes as it is pulled up and down the street. If one chooses to disregard this, and straddle the pole with his legs and hold the rope as if on a bucking bull, he may be in for a shock: the astroturf covering, especially when wearing shorts (highly likely in late August), can quickly remove the hide from the inside of the straddling legs. Furthermore, the height of the poles make it difficult to safely dismount, requiring the unfortunate rider to bear theremoval of hide for the duration of the ride.